Somewhere Along the Way
by StoppedaRedLight
Summary: Veronica and Logan start a relationship, but her past gets in the way.
1. CH 1: Comfort in Silence

**Okay, so I'm not new to fanfiction at all, I've been writing it for the past couple years. Usually I stick with Gilmore Girls or stuff like that though, so this is my first ever Veronica Mars fic. I would really appreciate any reviews you'll give me.**

Disclaimer: same as always...

NOTE: This is will eventually become somewhat alternate universe...

**Somewhere Along the Way**

CH 1: Comfort in Silence

Veronica didn't say anything as Logan took her hand in his. It wasn't an unfamiliar gesture lately, and she let him from her place on his chest.

Neither said anything and they were both grateful. For the first time in a long time, the silence was comforting rather than painful. His thumb stroked hers absentmindedly yet purposeful at the same time.

A month or so ago, her and Logan were sworn enemies and she would have wished pain upon him, if only as retribution for all that he had caused her. Now here they were, laying on the beach together hand in hand. Countless minutes in heaven had passed time after time, yet neither wanted to ruin what they had by talking about the new turns their relationship was taking.

She could feel like him looking at her out of the corner of his eye and she turned her head to look up at him. He didn't turn away and she met his eyes.

Veronica knew she didn't need to speak. He wanted to say something, but he'd say it when he wanted to. So she waited. His eyes narrowed slightly but then he turned his head back up facing the sky that had filled with stars in the hours since they first laid down.

"When did it become okay for mothers to leave their kids behind?" He asked her. It was a good question, but one she didn't know the answer to.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. "About the same time the kids started getting murdered or laced with pills and alcohol."

That was what he loved about Veronica Mars. She said whatever came into her mind without hesitation, something he only did with a full bottle of Jack in him.

It was the same for her. With Logan she didn't need to activate the filter in her head that was used so often in the old days, in her old life. He wouldn't get offended or judge her. He just listened, something she never thought he'd be capable of.

At school it was different. Things seemed to be moving in a a daze. It was if it was the music sequence in the movie. Every story has one, a time when a sad song plays and theres no dialog, just characters moving along looking depressed. It always comes right before the happy ending. The happy part had yet to pan out.

At school they were different. They didn't speak. They looked at each other in the hall. They stayed silent in each other's presence. They didn't do their bitter banter anymore. No one really noticed except Wallace and Duncan.

Wallace could easily be convinced it was nothing by Veronica. Duncan was different. He didn't bring it up directly, and when the topic came up otherwise Logan denied it as always, but Duncan was never really convinced. Deep down, he knew something was going on between his ex-girlfriend and his best friend.

Neither of them knew what the other was. They didn't talk about it. Outside of school, they were always together it seemed. Sometimes they sat around watching movies, sometimes so the sound could disguise the silence other times because they were actually watching it. Then there were times at the beach. They would just lay on their backs for hours, looking at the sea and sky.

The last time was a couple days ago and Logan laid on his stomach so she did too. It was one of those nights. Aaron had been in prime form. Logan had been in the line of fire. They didn't talk about it, just another thing that was understood between them. She just nursed the wounds and helped him in whatever way she could.

This time was one of the rare ones. They both needed comfort. Logan laid on his back as usual but Veronica rested her head on his chest, her hand still intertwined with his.

Their thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. Veronica knew by the ring tone it was Duncan, and vaguely remembered Logan mentioning the two were suppose to hang out that night.

"What?" Logan asked quietly. She was so close she could hear Duncan's muffled voice through the phone, but she didn't bother listening. She just tuned him out and listened to the crashing tide.

"I can't." Logan said in reply to something. "No... I said no man." His tone was gentle and tired, it always was on nights like these. Veronica loved when he was like that. He wasn't the guy that she had grown to hate over the past year. He was the guy that so few people ever saw.

"I'm busy... at the beach... none of your business." Veronica knew she wouldn't tell him she was there and she looked up to watch him. He felt her hesitance and moved his free hand to rest on her back.

Veronica ignored the hand, his way of saying stay, and went to stand up. "I'm gonna go." She mouthed. His brows furrowed in confusion and he shook his head. "Go with Duncan." She whispered as she sat down on the sand to pull her flip flops on. His face said it all, asking her why the change. She just ignored it and slipped her shoes on.

She could hear Duncan's voice almost clearly now.

"Are you with anyone?"

Veronica stopped. She knew he wouldn't say anything just like always. For some reason though, tonight... she wanted him too. She froze in her tracks while she waited for him to confirm her suspicion and deny his question.

"Yeah, Veronica Mars."

Her head whipped around and their eyes met. He understood. She didn't know what he understood but he did. He got her. That was what was important. Even if it didn't make sense in her own mind, it made sense to him.

It was then that Veronica realized, somewhere along the way their twisted relationship had morphed into something more... and she had fallen in love with Logan Echoll's.

A/N: Please review, it helps me a lot. I appreciate all constructive criticism and any tips you have would be great to hear...

Chapter two's already done, I'll post it later tonight...


	2. CH 2: The Truth Will

**Summary**: Veronica and Logan start a relationship, but her past gets in the way.

**Disclaimer**: same...

**A/N**: This is where the alternate universe thing takes over, as u'll see. Please review and tell me what u think about it!

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**Somewhere Along the Way**

CH 2: The Truth Will...

Duncan rolled onto his side and tried to close his eyes but it was useless. Logan's bombshell was not helping his sleeping habits. He sighed and rolled off the bed all together, giving up on the idea of sleep.

He walked over to the chair by his desk and grabbed the pair of sweatpants he had thrown there the night before, and pulled them on over the boxers he had been sleeping in. He grabbed the first t-shirt he saw out of a drawer in his dresser and picked up his tennis shoes by the door as he left his room.

Less than five minutes later, Duncan was running alongside the long and familiar highway than ran beside the beach. Everything was silent except the crashing of waves and the sound of his heavy breathing that matched the thumping of his tennis shoes on pavement.

Duncan didn't have a particular destination in mind. He just ran. Before he knew it he was turning another familiar corner and heading into a neighborhood of smaller homes built closer and closer together. He knew where his legs were heading and he forced his mind to go on auto pilot as he turned another corner.

It was the same place his late night running usually took him, a home he had watched often but never entered. He had long ago become unwelcome in her life.

Duncan came to a stop outside the entrance to the small apartment building and sat down on the small patch of dirt by the curb. His breathing eventually evened out as he watched the stillness of the streets around him. He leaned back and watched the silent community before him.

Sometimes he went in, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he could handle it, sometimes it made things worse. This time he didn't. He just stayed where he was, on the ground near the gate.

Duncan hated to admit it, but he probably thought about Veronica Mars far more than he needed to. She was a constant part of his thinking, something he tried to reason was normal, but deep down knew wasn't.

He used to follow her sometimes, once or twice a week maybe. He wasn't a stalker but knew her schedule. For a private eye, she wasn't that observant when someone followed her.

When he did, it was usually after school. She always went home right after, but rarely stayed more than ten minutes. If he waited twenty minutes and she was still inside, he left. If she came out, he would duck behind the same old tree and watch her leave. In the beginning, he would usually follow her to see where she was going, but he stopped. He didn't' follow her at all anymore. An incident had taught him that sometimes ignorance was bliss when it came to her.

Duncan moved his legs out in front of him and just stared at her apartment in the distance. He knew which room was hers, and the light was off. The whole place was dark.

His eyes wandered to the front step, and rested on the door.

He remembered the last day he followed her, it was etched in his brain. It wasn't something he would forget any day soon. Veronica had come out in a different outfit. Her skirt was exchanged for a pair of jeans, with boots and a different t-shirt. Her short blond hair had been pulled into a slick ponytail. Even though she had her bag with her, he could tell she wasn't working on a case. Her camera wasn't sticking out of the top like it always did.

Something in his gut told him to follow her that day. Every time he looked back on it he called himself stupid and wished he would have just left like always.

She got into her car and left, and he followed quickly behind her in his. He stayed back a little as she drove deeper and deeper into the bad part of town. She eventually stopped in a small neighborhood where the small one story houses were an arms length apart with small yards and gates. It was the furthest you could get from his own neighborhood and the nice part of town, without actually leaving Neptune.

Veronica parked at a corner a couple blocks away and locked her car, leaving her bag inside. The darkness hid him when he parked across the street a few houses down under some heavy trees. It was the perfect spot to watch without her seeing him.

The house she walked up to had a short metal gate around it and Duncan remembered how she unlocked it with ease like she had done it a million times before.

The yard was split in half by the front walk she used to get to the door. Half of the grass was littered with plastic toys and a small swing set around the back. The other side was covered in tires and auto parts. A polished motorcycle was propped up against the house, with a flashy helmet sitting on the seat.

He should have left right then. There were so many times he could have in the hour and a half he waited for her to come out. Something in Duncan that night worried him. He couldn't tear his eyes from the house he watched, and they stayed focused on the door long after it closed behind her.

If he had thought about it, he would have figured it out long before the evidence smacked him across the face. The bike. The bad part of the town. Mostly just he should have known that a girl like her wouldn't really be alone. Not every guy was as stupid as him.

Duncan knew he should have left, but he couldn't. His legs took on a mind of their own and led him out of the car to hide somewhere closer.

When she came out, she was putting her hair back into a ponytail and she didn't have her jacket on. She made it as far as the gate before a voice stopped her.

"Veronica!"Duncan knew the voice. He didn't know the person, but he knew of him. Everyone knew Weevil.

She turned around when he called, and waited for him to continue with her hand on the gate.

"You forgot your coat." He walked out of the shadows to meet her in the middle and Duncan's suspicions were confirmed. There he was. He smiled and handed her the jacket, his hands lingering on hers just a little too long to be innocent.

Duncan was close enough to hear her thanks, but Weevil's response was inaudible. Whatever it was made her laugh and she gave him a playful Veronica Mars patented look. Then Duncan felt his breath catch in his throat when he leaned down and she accepted his kiss gratefully.

He had wanted to turn away but he couldn't.

"Lunch in the gym?" He asked her, keeping his hand on her arm.

"Of course biker man, will your flunkies be joining us?" She said sarcastically.

"Nope, just me and you."

"Wow, I feel mighty special." Her voice took on that of a southern belle and she batted her eye lashes.

"You are." He responded seriously and her sarcastic smile slipped into a sincere one. Veronica leaned forward, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before backing up.

"I better go."

"I'll walk you to the car, a girl like you don't need to be in this neighborhood alone." He put an arm around her waist protectively and led her through the gate.

"A girl like me? Should I be insulted..." Her voice trailed off as they walked passed him and a loud motorcycle going by drowned them out.

Duncan snapped out of the flashback and shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his thumbs. He stood up regretfully and took one last look at the apartment in front of him before turning back to the road.

His tennis shoes made soft thumps as they rhythmically hit the hard pavement. Duncan forced himself to run faster and faster, until he didn't know if he could stop. His lungs burned from the quick intakes of cold air but he just kept going. He ran until his body ached with pain that could overpower the feelings that would always be there.

The day after he found out about her and Weevil, he went to the gym at lunch. They were there as promised. Duncan wouldn't have even noticed them if he hadn't been looking. They were crouched behind a set of bleachers in the back corner, oblivious to his stares from the doorway. Even from across the large gym he could hear her giggles and Weevil's coarse laugh.

He had long ago given up on trying to stop the pain he felt when he remembered or saw her with another guy.

His breath became even harder as he focused all of his energy on the sound of the waves crashing. He forced him to go faster and faster. The pain he felt from Veronica would never go away.

The only thing he could do was hope that another kind of pain would come along and make him forget, even for just a moment.

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Veronica's hands tightened their grip on the wheel as she stared at Neptune High in front of her. Suddenly she felt like she couldn't breathe, like she was gasping for breath but there was no air. She tried to exhale and take a deep breath and she felt the warm air slowly fill her lungs. She finally felt like she could breathe again, but that didn't help ease the tight feeling in her chest.

Had she wanted this? What had possessed her to be fine with this? She didn't fit in that crowd anymore, she couldn't do it. There was no way.

Veronica Mars was a person who usually prided herself with having the upper hand. She liked to be in control. Hardening herself was a defense mechanism, one that had worked all to well until he came along. Now she was putting herself out there again, open for all kinds of everything she always tried to avoid. Logan knew all this.

A tapping on her window startled her thoughts and she looked up abruptly to see Logan knocking on the glass, observing her. She had no idea how long he had been there. Without hesitation she opened the door but made no move to get out.

"You coming?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you inside."

"I'll wait." Logan knew exactly what she was doing. She was scared, though she'd never admit it. If he left her alone, she would never make it in the building. So he waited for her, knowing that she had far too much pride to admit her fear out loud to him.

She didn't say anything else, just reached across the seat and got her backpack from the floorboard and slowly stood up. She glanced around the car, as if looking for something else to busy herself with so she could stall. He knew this, yet didn't point it out.

He waited as she took longer than necessary locking her door and he almost made a crack about nobody wanting the piece of crap, if only to make her smile or relax, but he didn't. When she had realized she had everything and could no longer delay the inevitable, she turned to him and gave a stiff nod.

She started walking slowly towards the school, and he fell in step beside her, taking her hand in his. He didn't look at her when he did, just focused his eyes straight ahead. He could feel her gaze on him, but he didn't acknowledge it or the others coming from various classmates they passed.

When they got to the door, Logan stepped aside and opened the door, letting her go first but not letting her drop his hand. As brave as she usually was, he knew she'd become a coward today if he let her.

Veronica felt like they were moving in slow motion as she walked down the hall next to Logan. She knew it was silly, but she felt like all eyes were focused on her. Then she rolled her eyes at the thought, knowing it was true.

When she got to her locker, she cursed herself silently for having a locker across from Meg, who stood a mere five feet away, standing close with Duncan, holding hands. Their stares focused on Logan and then Veronica as the two passed and stopped across from them.

Logan dropped her hand so she could undo the lock, but he stayed close and leaned back on the locker beside her. He could see Duncan out of the corner of his eye, staring with a clenched jaw, but he refused to give his best friend the satisfaction in turning to look at him. He just watched and waited patiently for Veronica to get her books.

Before he knew it, Duncan was standing beside him, with Meg close behind. The girl was holding on to her boyfriend's arm tightly, a forced smile on her face. Meg knew there was resentment between the four, but she was still oblivious to the what was right in front her, the fact that she would always be a distant second to the only girl Duncan would ever fully love. She tried to help the situation by addressing Veronica with a friendly tone.

"Hey Veronica, what's up?" She asked, forcing happy conversation. Logan and Duncan didn't look at either girl, keeping their eyes on each other. Logan could feel Veronica look at him out of the corner of her eye before she turned fully to address her friend, shutting her locker.

"Nothing, you?" Veronica asked, her voice slightly stiff. She could tell Meg was slightly confused to the situation, but knew the girl probably thought there was just some awkwardness, nothing important.

"Not much, me and Duncan were just talking about the big dance."

"Oh yeah, the prom..." She trailed off and there was an uncomfortable silence that nobody but Meg cared to fill.

"Yep, are you two going?" She asked with a smile, unaware that she had probably made the situation worse. Veronica felt her mouth go dry and paused. Logan answered for her.

"If she'll have me." He broke Duncan's eye contact and put an arm around Veronica, looking down at her. "Got everything?" He asked quietly. She nodded and he looked back at the other couple. "We'll see you guys later." It was more of a statement than a question.

He urged Veronica to the side, and they walked off before anything else could be said. She sighed and put an arm around his waist.

"Well, that wasn't awkward at all." She said, a hint of her old sarcasm coming out. He couldn't help but smile. He didn't say anything else as they walked to her class. "You knew where my class was."

Logan rolled his eyes, knowing what she was getting at. Veronica smiled the smile that always made him weak at the knees. He changed the topic before she could proceed in teasing him.

"Yeah so, I'll meet you before lunch at your locker?" He asked, playing with her hands as she moved to stand in front of him. She gave him a quick nod.

It felt weird having him like this at school. Sure, it was like this when they were alone at the beach, or at her apartment, or the rare times at his house, but here... it was different. They were at school and she felt like she had when she had first started dating Duncan. It was like she was on display, and everyone was just watching, wondering what she had done to deserve a guy like him. She was Veronica Mars, never known for herself.

Back in the old days she was Lily's best friend, Duncan's girlfriend, the Sheriff's daughter. She had always been identified by those around her, never for herself. After everything changed, she wasn't even worthy of those names, four letter words took their place. Slut was a personal favorite, or the real over achievers choose the ones with five letters, whore or bitch.

Now she was the girl who solved cases. The weird one who hung out with the new basketball star Wallace, or Meg the cheerleader, or the bikers and guys like Weevil. She wasn't really any body's anybody anymore. They couldn't label her like they used to, so they just stuck to the four and five letter words.

When Logan looked at her in the hallway she could feel the walls she had worked so hard to build up start to fall. It was like she was struggling to keep her head above the surface, and her legs were growing tired of treading water for so long.

She could feel herself slipping back into her old world as the girlfriend of a '09er.

Deep down, she knew it was different but it felt the same. In the beginning, the old foursome wasn't as close as they had become before Lily died. Their friendship was a little forced, and they stuck to the pairs they fit in. Eventually it had just become easier and they all fell into the group they were before it all fell apart.

Veronica knew that it couldn't happen again, but she couldn't help but worry it would. She didn't want that life anymore, she couldn't do it again. She couldn't build it up and wait for it to crumble.

Logan had told her about the space that had grown between him and Duncan. The depressants had numbed him into someone barely recognizable. He was just a shadow of who he had once been. Honestly, she knew that the two boys would never be as close as they once were. Logan denied it if she brought it up, but she knew one of the big reasons was her.

As much as all the signs pointed in the other direction, Veronica couldn't help but worry. Her and Meg were friends, had been close to being best friends before Duncan and Logan came along. The four of them... it was too much.

"I better go." She lowered her eyes to discreetly miss his and went to turn around, but he caught her hand.

"You okay?" He asked, she could hear the concern in his voice.

"Yeah, of course." She turned and he let her go even though everything inside him was telling him not to. He had seen the look in her eyes as they glazed over. He knew she had been in deep thought, and whatever she was processing was worrying her. Logan could tell.

He waited another second before turning around and heading towards his first class. He decided he might as well stop by his locker for his books so he could at least pretend to pay attention in class.

Logan hadn't been looking around before, but he suddenly noticed people watching him out of the corner of their eyes. Whispers silenced when he waked by. He just rolled his eyes and turned the corner to the hall with his locker.

He stopped when he saw who was standing in front it. Logan just shook his head as he approached.

Duncan stood there with the look that Logan recognized. It was the one that he had been threatened with all too often.

Every time a word about Veronica was uttered, every time Logan used to go too far in his tormenting, it would come out. The one that looked like he would punch the offender if they finished that thought.

It was the same look that always told Logan everything he needed to know, that no matter what he said, Duncan was still in love with Veronica Mars.

_**A/N:** Thanks to all the people who encouraged me to write another chapter and my beta Stacey. It helped a lot, so please continue reviewing, as every writer on the site tells you, it really DOES help._

_Do I really have to beg this much for some reviews!_


	3. CH 3: Set You Free?

**A/N: **Wow, thank you so much for all the reviews you guys! You have no idea how much they really encouraged me to write faster and a better chapter. Keep 'em coming!

Sorry for the delay on the chapter, I had some school stuff to do and got some medical news I had to deal with. I promise I'm gonna try and update more often.

Hope you like this new one. In the light of recent events on the show, this is quickly becoming not alternate universe. The only thing really different from the show is that Veronica had a relationship with Weevil a while back.

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**Somewhere Along the Way**

CH 3: ... Set You Free?

Author: Hider (http/hider. not mine, duh

"So..." Veronica asked with a slight bitter-sweet chuckle. "Have any idea where we're sitting?" She turned to look at Logan, who was standing beside her.

"Nope." He said simply, turning to meet her eyes. "You?"

"Nope." They both laughed and looked back at the crowds in front of them. The two were standing outside, Logan holding both their books while Veronica had a tray full of food. "How about the empty one?" She gestured with a nod of her head to a deserted corner where no one was sitting.

It was neutral territory, or really hers. Logan had his clique of friends, and she had Wallace. Even he had been a little distant lately, hanging out with his new friends at the jock table. They always welcomed her, but being the only girl at a table full of testosterone wasn't always the best match. So most of the time she settled for a table by herself where she could eat and work on her cases, or pretend to work on her cases while her and Logan stared at each other. Neither one of them were very discreet.

"Sure, why not?" He said easily as he dipped his finger in the pudding on the tray and licked it as he started walking towards the table. She gave him a look but he just returned it with a charming smile, to which she rolled her eyes.

"So, how was English?" He asked once they had sat down. She just looked at him. "What?" Logan asked as he moved the tray between them and dipped a handful of fries in the pudding before shoving them into his mouth.

"We are not resorting to small talk."

"So I guess commenting on the weather would be a bad way to go?"

"I'm gonna have to go with ya on that." She looked down at the tray and frowned. "Damn, I forgot ranch. I'll be right back." She went to slide off the bench, but he was up before she even turned around.

"Don't worry about it, I got it." He said easily.

"Um... okay." She gave him a questioning look but he just turned around and quickly dodged other students to get back inside the cafeteria. It wasn't long before she lost him in the crowd and turned back to her food.

It was a weird quirk that both her and Logan shared, the ranch. They ate it on everything, though he was way worse than her. It was just on stuff ranch was suppose to be on like salads, or dipping veggies in, but pizza too, or French fries. Logan loved his French fries and ate them with about everything too, usually just dipping them in whatever was close by, hence the chocolate pudding.

Veronica smiled to herself as she dipped a fry into the pudding and ate it. She was so consumed in her own thoughts she didn't notice the familiar figure approaching until it stopped in front of her.

Logan was only about a halfway through the cafeteria when he felt a strong grip tighten around his upper arm. He turned around quickly, but he felt his smile slip off his face when he saw who the arm belonged too. Logan looked down and mimicked looking at his watch.

"Wow, only took you... four hours? I'm impressed, have to say I thought it'd be at least six or seven." He cocked his head sarcastically.

"We need to talk." Duncan's face didn't change once throughout the encounter.

"No, I really don't think we do."

"What are you doing?" Duncan asked, ignoring Logan's objection.

"Right now? Walking away from you." He quickly jerked his arm from Duncan's grasp and turned to walk away.

"Do you really think you two are gonna last?" Duncan just followed him from behind and Logan could feel his jaw clench in annoyance. "She doesn't even care about you man."

Logan took a deep breath and kept walking, telling himself that Duncan was just trying to get a rise out of him. He wanted a fight, and Logan wasn't going to give it to him.

"She's a slut and liar and she's just using you to get back at me." Logan's fists balled into fists at his side and he quickly turned around to face Duncan.

"I'm not fighting you Duncan, so just turn around and walk away."

"We're friends, maybe you've forgotten that but I haven't and friends help friends out."

"So calling my girlfriend a slut and a liar is helping out? Wow, what a great friend you are."

"I'm just trying to warn you."

"Warn me?" Logan let out a sound of disbelief. "From Veronica?" He shook his head and a finger at Duncan, pointing. "That's a good one."

"I'm serious."

"Veronica doesn't lie to me." The mocking and lightness were out of his tone and he stared at Duncan with cold brown eyes.

"Really?" Duncan ignored the cold stare and laughed. "You know about Weevil then?" Logan tried to hide his confusion but failed. "Yeah, looks like she's told you everything." He nodded and shook his head condescendingly. "Why don't you ask her, see what she says... then we'll see if she lies to you or not."

Duncan turned around and walked away, leaving Logan standing in the middle of the cafeteria.

He grabbed some packets of ranch off the condiment table and quickly stalked across the cafeteria, weaving and pushing his way through the people in his way. Duncan was the liar in the scenario, always had been lately. He was sick of his bullshit, he was just mad because he had screwed up with Veronica and Logan had been smart enough to see what a great person she really was.

As soon as he pushed through the doors, he regretted it. The anger melted away and fear crept in his veins, fear that Duncan wasn't bullshitting this time. Veronica was still sitting at their table, but standing beside her was Weevil, as if Duncan's accusation had brought him about. She was looking down from Weevil's gaze, but they were speaking.

"What's going on Veronica?"

"Eli..." She trailed off and looked down at her hands, unable to meet his eyes. The conversation was inevitable, but she had hoped to avoid it for at least a couple days. She should have known better. It was Eli she was talking about. He had confrontation and bitter truth written all over him. That and his carelessness attitude was what attracted her to him in the first place, the soft guy under the exterior was what made her stay.

Sitting there, avoiding his gaze, she could see Eli coming through. Weevil was the guy with the hard exterior everyone knew and feared, the one that had gotten locked up more times then she even cared to know about. Eli was the real guy underneath it all. When it came down to it, she was just like him, putting up the wall to avoid the pain.

He saw the way things really were, knew that the real world was full of cold and bitterness, backstabbing and pain. Weevil was his defense mechanism. You didn't dare hurt someone you were afraid of.

"It's Weevil." His indifferent tone was what hurt her the most, the way he didn't seem to care either way. Deep down she knew he did, and that just made Veronica feel all the worse. She had hurt him, even if he would never admit it, she knew she had.

Veronica gave a stiff nod in response and glanced back up at him.

"So.."

"You with Echolls now?" He got straight to the point.

Veronica looked down again and nodded. He had a way of making her feel ashamed for something she

shouldn't be and wasn't around anyone but him. Back in the old days, he held her accountable. When she got too bitchy, or snapped for no reason, he called her on her bullshit. Just because they changed, didn't mean he would.

"Thin line between love and hate I guess..." He reasoned. This time he was the one that avoided looking at her, but chose to glance around him instead of looking down. He was never one for looking inferior. "You and Lily were always so much alike... I shoulda known you would've liked the guy."

Veronica brought her eyes up and looked at him. She knew it took a lot for him to bring up Lily, he had really loved her. Coming from him, the comparison was a compliment in the biggest way and also the worst.

"Lily loved you." He still wouldn't meet her eyes but moved his head slightly in her direction. "Logan wasn't... he wasn't what you were to her."

"Yeah, well that didn't stop her from running right back to him every time."

"She was scared."

"Is that what you were Veronica Mars? Scared? Scared anyone might actually love you?" His eyes burned into her and she couldn't take it. He just shook his head and went back to looking elsewhere. A silence fell between them.

"I'm sorry." She whispered timidly.

"For what? It's not like we were... anything, just there, two Kane cast offs blowing time." His words felt like a sharp stab in her chest, the casualness in his voice, the twisting of the knife.

"Eli-"

"Weevil."

"No." Veronica stood up and looked at him. He faced her, but wasn't really looking at her. "You're Eli to me, you always will be. You weren't nothing ok? Don't think that."

"Veronica..."

"Stop saying it like that!"

"No!" His eyes bore into hers with more anger than she had seen him use on anybody but his gang. Even then, Weevil had an eerie calmness about him. Whether ordering the beating of someone, telling off a public defender, or being rejected by whoever, it was always a calm deep anger.

Now it was out in the open and his face was etched with it. Veronica couldn't look into the eyes that bore into hers.

"Ronnie?"

Veronica looked up and instantly realized that it wasn't Weevil that addressed her. She quickly turned to see Logan standing with a confused and suspicious look on his face.

"I.. uh, got your..." He lifted his hand and gestured to the ranch packs wedged in his palm and placed them face down on the tray. His eyes darted back and forth between the two. "Did I interrupt something?"

Weevil answered for her before she could even formulate a thought.

"Not at all." Weevil turned to look at Veronica. "We're done." They both knew his words carried multiple meanings. Whatever between them was over, their partnership and truce was finished, their friendship. As far as he was concerned she didn't exist anymore.

With his last parting words he turned and walked away. Logan looked at her curiously, his eyes asking unanswered questions she ignored.

"Come on, let's eat. All your fries are gonna be cold and we know how grouchy Logan is without his fries." She attempted a joke but it came out stiff as they sat down.

Logan glanced at her, knowing there was a lot she wasn't telling him. He wasn't going to accuse or pester. That would only drive her away and Logan wasn't sure if he could take loosing another girl he loved...

* * *

I'm such a feedback whore... hint hint lol


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